Improvement in bell-targets



A. BEDFORD.

Bell-Targets.

Patented Dec. 1, 1 874.

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THE GRAPHIC CO. PHOTO'LlTH-IQln 4-! PARK FLAOEJLY.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUSTUS BEDFORD, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO HIM- SELF AND ALBERT A. P OPE, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN BELL-TARGETS.

Specification forming part of Lttters Patent No. 157,363, dated December 1, 1874; application filed November 4, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUGUSTUS Bnnnonn, of Boston, Suffolk county, Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Bell-Target, of which the following is a specification:

Idesign to produce in this invention a belltarget which shall be efficient in use and very simple and economical in construction, it being intended mainly for use with air pistols or rifles in which a dart is employed.

The drawings accompanying this specification represent, in Figure 1, a vertical section, and, in Fig. 2, a horizontal section, of a target embodying my improvements.

In these drawings, A represents a flat circular or rectangular board applied to a sec ond boa-rd or background, 8, with screws or other means of permitting the former to be readily removed from the latter, and reversed side for side when worn or disfigured. Through the center of the two boards, A and B, I bore, horizontally, a small hole a, and within this hole I place loosely a rod or spindle, b, of a length somewhat greater than the entire thickness of the two boards in order that its inner end 0 shall protrude beyond the rear face of the board or plate B. A spring,- d, is secured at one end to the board B, and its other end passes freely through a passage, 6, made in the rod or spindle b, the purpose of the spring being to force the end of the spindle away from actual contact with the bell, which is shown at f as secured to the board B, and immediately adjacent to the said spindle b. The outer end of the spindle b terminates in a button, g, and this button is enveloped within a head or disk, h, of india-rubber or other elastic material, which will cause the dart to rebound when striking against it, and which will be comparatively uninjured by the repeated punctures of the point of the dart. The inner cell of the disk It is considerably smaller than the buttong in order that the disk when sprung over the latter shall adhere firmly to it. This method of confining the disk to the button enables the former to be instantly removed, and another substituted should it be found necessary so to do.

One advantage of this construction of target is that it automatically sets itself after being struck by the projectile. A target constructed in this manner is simple and inexpensive to an eminent degree.. The outer board A, after becoming injured or disfigured by the darts, may be removed, reversed side for side and returned to place, the only act necessary to enable this to be done being to remove the screws and the rod b, which latter is readily effected by removing the free end of the spring d from the passage in said rod. The spring d is applied in a peculiar manner; its lower end is bent into a lip, a, which enters the board B, while the body of the spring, which is very flexible, passes under a staple, b, and thence through the rod 12, as stated. This construction enables the spring to be readily detached from the rod, and the latter instantly removed as occasion requires.

I claim- The improved target herein described, the same consisting of the two boards or plates A B, the rod 1) with its button g, and provided with the head h and the bell f and spring d, the whole being substantially as and for purposes stated.

AUGUSTUS nnnronn.

Witnesses:

1*. CURTIS, W. E. BOARDMAN. 

